Inside Namaste- Part I

Today I was conversing with my lab partner and we were picking each other's mind a bit, trying to say the bit of philosophy we have learned throughout life. Of course we were supposed to be paying attention to our physics lab, but who wanted to watch water cool down for 40 minutes? Anyways! We were talking about how close the calender year is to an end and how quickly time passes by. Of course I said my tidbit of my thoughts on time, which can be read here. I probably annoyed her but she seemed to have a similar vibe I had and we continued to feed off each other's energy (which I loved!). She began to mention how India's calender differs from the 365 day calender most of us are used to and I learned interesting history of India. Our conversation quickly took a turn and yoga came up. I started to get excited but my lab partner, being of an Indian background, stated that she gets somewhat offended, to put into a word, when people use the word, 'namaste,' especially out of context. Her words quickly brought in a thousand different thoughts into my head, each one trying to out speak the other.

I felt deeply saddened that she would feel offended when people say namaste in yoga. I thought of the ignorance people in general, have. I remembered the endless times I would scroll down my twitter feed and see people tweet inspiring messages along the words of, "namaste bitches."

Now I'm sure most people think namaste has to deal with the idea of peace, or maybe just the word peace. I may be wrong but it is simply what I think. And I quickly got offended with her about the misuse of the word, namaste. After all, this important 'word' is vastly important in her culture. I asked her what religion she practiced, if she did, and she said she was raised Hindu. I told her I had read books about Hinduism and Buddhism and how greatly I appreciated the fact that the word 'namaste,' existed. What I was trying to do was reassure that some people don't try to misuse the word. And that's the thing, I believe some people are just accidentally misusing the word, while others just keep to the idea, ignorance is bliss. Anyways! This lengthy blog will cover the "word," Namaste. This will have references to different books I read, articles online and my own thoughts.

Now, I will try to keep this simple and clean, hence the (part I) in the post's title.

Stay with me!

Namaste starts with a gesture. Two hands closed together in a prayer position, usually used after a meditation session or regularly seen at the end of a yoga class. You bow your body towards the other energy in the room (people) and say namaste. Namaste is acknowledging your soul by the soul of others. Nama means to bow and a means I and te means to you. So you get "bow me you" or I bow to you. This gesture brings flow of "Divine Love" which can be seen as surrendering your mind to the soul, or the heart (aka love). I strongly believe that we are all just souls walking around in bodies that happened to be made out of star dust. I believe the soul is your true being and we are all in a constant flow of energy- bad and good. So I see namaste as acknowledging someone not as a peer, student, teacher, etc. but as a soul. Sharing a bond with someone where time isn't an essence and we are free from our own egos! As YogaJournal.com put it, "It is done with deep feeling in the heart and with the mind surrendered, a deep union of spirits can blossom."

I hope you're still here and I hope you are still intrigued by the idea of namaste. Now that I have sort of put the general idea out there, you can begin to imagine why I would understand why my lab partner would get offended by the misuse- it's a beautiful word/idea/feeling!

One pop culture reference is a movie that I deeply, deeply heart with my whole soul because of the great spiritual messages it sent throughout the story- James Cameron's Avatar. Chances are you saw this movie and if you haven't, go rent it! If you saw it, you probably also (annoyingly) heard everyone say "I see you." This was the movie's version of namaste! "I see you" was a spiritual greeting that was used to say the seer was recognizing the divine (soul) in another. The greatest level of love was used when referring to the "seeing." Avatar also greatly dealt with the idea that we are all connected. By all, I mean every energy source in the universe. Namaste also means, I honor the soul in you, that is also in me. We are all a part of one soul. Good and Bad (hence the philosophy of Yin and Yang).

How can my soul be on the same level of that of a murderer? That is where Yin and Yang comes in, a reverse-forward motion comes in and Newton's Third Law of Motion comes in. There will always be bad energy in the world (reverse) and will always be good energy as well (forward). There is a balance of nature, our nature. Our soul, our energy is almost like the recycling sign. No energy created, no energy lost, just balance. I know especially in this world, it can seem like there's more bad than good. But that's another big topic to cover.

Again, namaste means honoring the light, or soul, we see in another. Honoring their presence- accepting their presence. We are a part of one soul and respect each other on that level. Namaste takes in the idea that all life is interrelated. Please do your own research and let me know your thoughts on this great word. I hope this word can be better recognized and used in a better way than I have seen it used. Like I said in my first post, Beginner, we are all connected in more ways and levels that we could ever think.